Tag: Watch OS

After getting my grubby fingers all over an Apple Watch since the 24th April I’ve had a fair bit of time to use it, both for personal use and for development of MacID.

During that time I’ve been asked time and time again:

What does it do? Is it worth it?

The answers I give to that are “everything” and “yes”, but I think what people really want to know when they ask is, “what is it good for?”.

To answer that, lets have a look at where Apple’s other products fit in to our lives. (This, of course, is circumstantial and just a generalisation).

The Mac, nowadays, is ultimately for creating content. OS X is still the parent of all other Apple products, and it’s still usually the easiest way of doing multiple things at once when you’re working on a project. The iPad tries to be a content creator, but in reality it still fails in many aspects. Sure, it’s good for a quick edit of a Pages document, but if you want to create a website, code an app, do some detailed design work, or write an essay, you still need to use a proper operating system with much more accurate input.

iOS on the other hand, is amazing for consuming content and communication. Twitter, Instagram, messaging, iBooks, listening to Music; these are all far superior on iOS. Again, you can do all of this on your Mac now, but engagement is much higher on mobile devices for this sort of content.

So, what about Apple Watch? I personally think Apple Watch will excel with utility apps. Apps which allow you to unlock your Mac or hotel room, board a plane, check your car’s current charge, book a cab, control your TV, or check off a shopping list. These all take seconds of your time for each interaction, and are perfect for the small form factor.

Once developers stop seeing Apple Watch as something they have to get their current apps onto, and start understanding where it will excel, Apple Watch (and other wearables) will start to become integral in our lives just like laptops and smartphones.